Professor To Speak At Mental Health Conference

Educational Psychology professor Dr. Tim Elliott will be a panel speaker at the Broadband Prescriptions For Mental Health: A Policy Conference held at the University of Houston Law Center on Wednesday, May 18. The conference is hosted by the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force and will highlight how broadband-enabled health technologies can improve access to mental health care and associated policy issues.

The conference will feature leading voices in the mental health research field across the state. According to The National Institute on Mental Health, one in five American adults experience a mental illness in any given year, but only about 40% of those people access mental health services. Similarly, the Health Resources and Services Administration estimates that more than 80 million Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.

Dr. Elliott will be a part of a panel titled Care Challenges in Mental and Behavioral Health and Connected Solutions. There, Dr. Elliott will discuss his ongoing research on the Telehealth Counseling Clinic, a program that uses videoconferencing outreach to assist mental health patients in rural areas across the state.

“Through our videoconferences, we are able to physically see patients and pay attention to their appearance and well being,” said Dr. Elliott. “This is beneficial because we can notify authorities an incident may occur. Addressing these crises in this manner also prevents additional costs accrued by services provided by police departments, state MHMR personnel, local emergency rooms, and psychiatric hospitalizations.”

Additional information can be found on the Broadband Prescriptions For Mental Health Conference website.